Receptacle opener



May 1, 1923."

J. H. SMITH RECEPTACLE OPENER Filed July 21. 1921 QmuM woz I n 7 all v 1 /7 WWW,

Fatented i T S AT NT oFFica.

JAY HFTNGERFOBD SMITH, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

RECEPTACLE OP v z ap lication filed July 21, 19m. Serial No. 8,489,.

' To all whom "it concern i it known that I, JAY Hunonnronn SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Receptacle Openers, of Which the following is a specification.

My; invention relates to receptacle openers and as for one of its objects the provision of a-device ofethis character which is particularly adapted to the removal of a closure commercially known as the anchor top.

A further objectof the invention is to pro. vide a receptacle opener which is cheap to construct, sunple in operation, and universal in its adaptability to closures of well known ty es.

ln the'drawingsz- Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved receptacle opener;

Fig. 2 is a top plan vlew ot the device;

Fig. 3 illustrates the use of my device applied to a container having an anchor tog when held in an upright position;

ig. 4 is a view of the same container in inverted position showing another use of the device;

Fig. 5 illustrates additional uses of the receptacle opener applied either asa puncturing means or as a lifter for crown caps; an 4 Fig. 6 shows three related detail views in cross-section of a portion of an anchor top and the method 0 unsealing the same.

The anchor top which the device of my invention is particularly designed to remove is shown somewhat diagrammatically in Fig. 3 and more in detail in Fig. 6. It comprises a flat disk 3 having a peripheral flange t fitting over a conta ner 5 which is turned downwardly against the exterior of the vessel 5 to which it is applied, in the present instance-shown-as a glass 'ar. The flange v.polt'tion of the diskis turne outwardly at 6 as best shown in Fig. 6 and again down- .wardly as at 7 formlngan annular groove between the flange ortion 7 and the surface of the glass. Wlthln this groove is placed a rubber sealing ring 9, and the dependin ortion 7 of the flange is then spun or peene nwardly toward the glass com ressinjg the -rubber between itself and the g ass in seal ing relation thereto. The top is ordinarily removediby forcing a table fork between the inturnededge and the glass and into the stamps 'ing a uniform thichiessas shown at 2 and through said top BIS;

rubber in order to break out a short end of the rubber. is then pulled out with the fingers. This has obvious disadvanta es bothas regards the damaging eifect on t 1e fork and its crudeness and inconvenience in opening the to By my receptacle opener the closure may expeditiously removed in either of two ways, the opposite ends of said opener be The remainder of therubber formed with means for accomplishin this.

purpose. One end may be used as .s own in Fig. 3, for puncturing the lid from the.

upper side and for forcing the rubber from beneath the inturned flange in a loop which is then pulled out with the finem. The other end of the opener is designs to be used on the 'ar inverted as shown in Fig. 4, the

rubber eing cut and pried out-as far as need be with the opener and then manually withdrawn. I l

In the drawing numeral 1 represents the handle art of the device which is preferably d out from a flat piece of metal havprovided at one end wih two inwardl vfaclng pointed projections l and 11 while termlnate substantially, in a line parallel to the median longitudinal line through the device. The pro ection 1;l terminates a short portion 12 back a little to one side of the plane of the'fiet surface of the blank as shown at 13 in Fig. 2 and is preferably beveled outwardly so that when placed against a container as shown in the dotted line position of Fig. 3 the beveled pointed end 13'will lie against the joint between the ed of the den 7 and the wall of the container 5 in a otion to. enter slightly into mid joint won the device is swung upway u" crum upon which the device has to o solid line" position of Fig. 8 d g w movement the projection 10 t of the d and oontinuii rubmr on in outwardly 'extpnding t portion of the anchor to cam surface or convex rubber outwardly of the inturned edge of the flange in a loop as shown at 9 which may I then be conveniently grasped by the fingers.

The convex surface of the projection 10.

is ground to an approximate edge by beveling off the surface on the side of the blank which is intended to be placed adjacent the receptacle as shown at 14. Thisedge is a dull edge being only sufficiently sharp.to

puncture the metal of the top but not so sharp as to cut the rubber against which 1t bears to force the same out of the groove besurface of the opener.

tween the flange 7 and the container.

An important feature of the invention is the direction of the bevel on edge 14 which, as stated in the prior paragraph, is on the side adjacent the jar, leaving that surface of the projection which is remote from the jar unbeveled or flat in the plane of the side The value of this feature may be appreciated from Fig. 6 which shows in the upper view a detail of the anchor top and jar withthe parts in sealed relationship. The middle view shows the same elements with the transverse flange punctured by a hypothetical opener 15 which difi'ers from the device of this invention in that it has no beveled edge. hypothetical device, because of the absence therefrom of a beveled ed e','will draw down a burrof metal 16 on cac side of the perforation. The rubber 9 being resilient, the opener will sink into it some distance before the rubber begins to move. That is to say, the rubber will lag relative to the downward pressure of the opener so that the burr will overtake the rubber and compress it before it can move out of the way. Now as will be seen from the upper View of Fig. 6 the angle between the transverse portion 6 of the flange and the inturned portion 7 is acute so that the burr 16 on the outside of the puncture, in compressing the rubber, will pinch it between the burr and the inturned portion 7, the .result being that the rubber will not come out readily but the end of the hypothetical opener will cut it through or break it so that it can only be gotten out piecemeal.

Thelowest view of Fig. 6 shows the same detail of the anchor top as the other views. In this the transverse flange has been punctured by the projection 10 of my device with the bevel on the edge 14 on the side next to the jar. In this instance the out is clean on the side opposite the glass and substantially the entlre burr will be turned down adjacent the glass. As will be noted from, the top view of F g. 6 the angle between the transverse portion 6 of the flange and the glass outwar Said is an obtuse angle so that the burr will have It will be noted that the puncture in the top is made in the flange alone and does notdestroy the top which may be subsequently used to cover the jar in a dust-tight mannor or to preventevaporation of the con tents therefrom.

The other end of the opener is provided with a ointed projection 17 which extends dly in a longitudinal direction and has an external contour of S-shaped curvature and is slightly concave adjacent the point to enable the point to be inserted beneath the rubber 9 as shown in Fig. 4, and then convex' in order that it may turn the rubber upwardly to a position where it may be manually grasped. Somewhat inwardly of the projection 17 the opener is provided with a projection 18 having a convex outer edge forming a rocking fulcrum adapted to rest upon the inturned portion 7 of the anchor top when the jar is in inverted.

position as shown in Fig. 4 and to form a purchase for the device when forcing the projection 17 beneaththe rubber. The convex surface 19 of the projection 18 serves.

also as a traction surface for the opener as it is slid around the jar along the edge of the flange 7 to dislodge the desired length of rubber. To the end that the convex surface 19 shall not readily slip ofi the edge of the flange 7 it is left the full thickness of the blank and cut at right angles thereto. The point 20 of the pro ection 17 is slightly beveled to permit ,easy entrance between the flange 7 and the container but left with suflicient of a chisel edge to cut the rubber, as it .is pressed in engagementwith it.

In Fig. 5 is shown means for opening ,clo

sures other than the anchor top. To the rlght 1s shown the opener in the act of removing an ordinary crown cap, for whichpurpose the pointed end 18 is extended slightly in a hook form toprevent its slipping under the edge of the top. The lower edge of the projection 17 is used as a fulcrum 21 on top of the cap. To the left in Fig. 5 is shown the pointed end 20 of the tion 22 by means of which it may be hung up when notinuse.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A receptacle opener for forcing the rubber from anchor tops, comprising a handle portion having curved pointed projections facing inwardly toward one another, one projection terminating within the curvature of the other-and being offset to one side thereof, said inwardly terminating projection being used as a fulcrum against the edge of the flange of an anchor top, and the outer projection constituting a puncturin element for the transverse portion of said flange when the opener is swung on its fulcrum.

2. A receptacle opener for forcing the rubber from anchor tops, comprising a handle portion having at one end curved pointed projections facing inwardly toward one another, one projection terminating within the curvature of the other, the inwa'rdly terminatin rojection being adapted to co-act 'as a %u crum against the edge of the flange of an anchor top, and the outer projection forming a puncturing element for the transverse portion of the flange, said outer projection being provided with a convex cam surface and being adapted to :1:- successively puncture said flange and to displace the rubber of said anchor top against said cam surface when the opener is swung on its fulcrum.

3. A receptacle opener for forcing the rubber from anchor tops, comprising a,

handle portion having at one end curved pointed projections facing inwardly toward one another, one projection terminating within the curvature of the other, the inwardly terminating projection being adapted to use as a fulcrum against the flange of a top, and the outer projection forming a puncturing element for the transverse portion of said flange, sald outer projection being provided with aconvex cam' surface beveled to a dull edge for puncturing said flange and constructed to displace the rubber of said anchor top when the opener is swung on its fulcrum.

4. A receptacle opener for forcing the rubber from anchor tops, comprising a .handle po'rtion having at one end curved ing provided with a convex cam surfacev beveled to a dull edge on theside lying adj acent the container when the opener is applied to an anchor top and unbeveled on the opposite side for puncturing said flange and constructed to .displace the rubber of said anchor top when the opener is swung on its fulcrum.

5. A receptacle opener comprising a flat metallic blank havin at one end two inwardly facing pointe projections having a concave inner edge forming a cut-out ortion between them, one of said projections,

terminating within the arc of curvature of the other, the inwardly terminatin projection being bent slight y minatin projection lying in the plane of to one si e of the plane of the blank, and the outwardly terthe blan and having a convex outer edge beveled to a dull edge on the same side of the blank as that toward which the inwardly terminating projection is bent.

Intestimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAY HUNGERFORD SMITH.

Witnesses:

JOHN RANDOLPH DEAN, JAY Enwoon 8mm. 

